Team New Zealand will head into the second day of challenger finals with a 2-1 lead over Sweden's Artemis.
Team New Zealand sailors congratulate one another after beating Artemis Racing in the third race of the America's Cup Challenger playoff finals. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The team also believes the lighter wind forecast might favour them.
Artemis insisted it would have been 2-1 to them, had their skipper Nathan Outteridge not fallen overboard on the third and final race of the day, forcing their retirement.
But Team New Zealand's skipper Peter Burling disagreed, with his boat already closing on the Swedes when the mishap occurred.
"We thought we were going to have a pretty good shot at them at that top mark," he said.
Burling conceded his starts were not the best, coming off second in all three getaways.
"Obviously the starts are something we are working on, a couple of small decisions cost us, " he said.
Despite the first race loss and the man overboard, Outteridge was talking up his team's performance.
"Our starting was spot on...I cant remember a day where we'd been able to start so well like that. All that starting practice we got in with Dean [Barker] in the semi-finals has really done us really well," said Outteridge.
The weather forecast for the second day's three races is much lighter than Sunday's which was raced in between 10 and 13 knots of wind.
"We seem to enjoy the lighter conditions - we're really excited about the performance we get out of the boat in light conditions," said Peter Burling.
Boat configuration may have played a part in Sunday's performances by the pair.
Artemis took the plunge and fitted its light weather daggerboards, while Team New Zealand said it went for the more "all-purpose" foils, and struggled more in the first race than the windier subsequent encounters.
Artemis and Team New Zealand will race three times again on Monday morning.
The first team to score five wins will go on to challenge Oracle Team USA for the America's Cup.